GROUP 1 ABELEDA AGGARAO

ACMAD ANG
• It is a common tendency to describe the present as “modern”
• Being modern means being up to date and technologically advanced
• Art that is new or current is also often referred to as “modern” as opposed to
“traditional” or “conservative”. In other words, in everyday parlance, the terms are
interchangeable.
• Modern art is not the same as Contemporary art, although they could share some
characteristics, sources and influences.
• We will come to realize and learn, it is also possible to integrate and transform elements
from Modern art into Contemporary art.
FAQ WHAT IS CONTEMPORARY? IS IT THE
SAME AS BEING MODERN?
• The first difference between the contemporary and modern is
historical and chronological

• The table suggested by Arts Studies Professors Fajardo and Flores

Form Pre- Conquest Spanish Period (1521- American Period Japanese Period Postwar Republic 70s
1898) (1898-1940) (1941-45) (1946-1969) Contemporary

Painting Potter; body Religious (icon and Landscape, portraiture, Watertime scene
adornment, ecclesiastical), genre, interior, still life (agression, nationalism, Figurative, non-
ornament secular(portraiture). atrocities, symbolic, Modern, figurative, art for
protest, aspiration for conservative, art sake,
Sculpture Pottery; craving and Santo, furniture, reliefs, Free standing, relief, peace) abstract multimedia,
woodwork, metal altar pieces, jewelry, public Propaganda experimental, mixed media,
work and metalwork, pieta, Indigenizing and public art transmedia
expression ornamentation orientillizing works,
genre, idyllis (Amorsolo,
Francisco, Ocampo)
Architectur Dwellings and Church, plaza complex, City planning parks,
e houses, shelters, town planning, waterfronts,
worship areas, fortification, civic civic/gov’t., structures,
official residences, buildings, and public works,
mosque, masjid, installations, private apartments, residences,
state edifices residences, commercial offices, health and Public works
structures, cemeteries, public education,
bridges, lighthouse business, chalet
FAQ WHAT IS CONTEMPORARY ART? WHAT IS
MODERN ART?
• In terms of history, contemporary art can be defined as produced by artists living today.
• HR Ocampo’s painting was painted in the early 1960s. At that time, the painting was
considered contemporary. Today we refer to these as Modern Art.
• Some modern artist continue to produce work till today. In that sense, their works can
be described as contemporary, by virtue of being “of the present”
• The “contemporary” is therefore a fluid term, and its use can change depending on the
contexts.
• It is important to know the historical, and stylistic contexts of the terms.
There are artists-young and senior, alike-who paint in styles associated
with Modern Art.

• National Artist Victorio Edades – credited for initiating the Modern Art movement
that challenged the neo classic style.
• The Neoclassic Style – depicts reality as closely as possible and idealizes it.
• The Modern artists led by Edades challenged what were described as “conservative” art.
Modern artists do not aim to copy or idealize reality; instead, they change the colors, and
flatten the picture.
• At that time Modern art was considered new and shocking. Neoclassic Art
was familiar and comfortable. It is also described by art historians like
Guillermo as “academic” along with other established styles imported from
Europe via Spanish colonization.
• “Academic” as it was and continues to be taught in schools, particularly the
then University of the Philippines School of Fine Arts (now UP College of
Fine Arts), where Amorsolo and Tolentino were most influential.
• Today, modern art is referred as “traditional”, compared to Contemporary
Art.
 STYLISTIC OVERVIEW
Form Precolonial Spanish/Islamic American Colonial Modern Postmodern/
Colonial Contemporary
Painting Incipient triumvirate 13 Collaborative, hyper-
moderns, abstract, realist, new-painting
Religious/devotional neorealist, surreal,
Secular expresionist
Sculpture Religious Formal Junk/scrap, duchampian,
(animist or Naturalistic Classical idyllic, arte covera, neo-
Islamic), (homegrown, nostalgic Abstract expression indigenous, site-
Community- miniaturismo, guild) specific, performance
based, Inter- Academic art, hybrid
Ethnic relations,
Collective Worship-related ans Neoclassic art deco Filipino architecture,
Architecture history residential (Juan Arellano, Juan urban planning,
Earthquake Nakpil, Pablo International economic zone,
Baroque Antonio) Art industrializing, eclectic neovernacular, prefab,
Hispanic revivalist Nouveau, California regionalist,
(negothic, Mission Style cosmopolitan
neoromanesque,
Islamic)
 CULTURAL OVERVIEW
Form Indigenous Islamic or Folk or Fine or world- Popular or Urban
Southeast Philippine Lowland based and mass based
Asian Muslim
Painting
Museum-
Colonial and circulated, artist Mass produced,
Sculpture Ritual and governance post-colonial centered gallery- market oriented
distributed

Architecture
FAQ WHAT ARE THE GENERAL
CHARACTERISTICS OF CONTEMPORARY ART?
• Although contemporary artists like Saudi Ahmad continue to use
traditional media such as watercolor and oil canvas, others like Cajipe-
Endaya use mixed media.
• Some works are also site-specific, meaning they cannot be experienced
in the same way if removed from their original places of exhibit
whether in the gallery, out on the streets, in the forest, on the internet,
etc.
FAQ WHAT ARE THE GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
OF CONTEMPORARY ART?
• It is hard to separate the artist from his space of practice, and his lifework.
• The process is collaborative, and the experience is immersive and interactive, such that
the art is never complete without the audience’s active input.
• The art historian Terry Smith describes it as “from extreme isolation to total proximity,
from individual alienation to complete togetherness, from a personal particularity to total
generality…”
• A lot of contemporary art may be collaborative/participative, interactive and process-
oriented, meaning that there is less emphasis on the finished product and a single
“author” or creator.